Jakarta, March 10. The New Zealand pilot kidnapped more than a month ago in the province of Papua, in the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, assured in a video released this Friday by his captors that “I will be released a once independent Papua”.
“I have been ordered to make a statement. Foreign pilots are not allowed to work and fly in Papua until it is independent. The UN is asked to mediate between Papua and Indonesia for independence. I will be released when Papua is independent,” he said. said in the video the pilot, Philip Mark Mehrtens.
The same, in which Mehrtens can be seen looking calm and surrounded by dozens of rebels, some armed, was sent to various media, including EFE, by Sebby Sambon, spokesman for the Free Papua Movement, which represents various separatist militias. , including the one who claimed responsibility for the abduction, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB).
El neozelandés confirmed in the video that “cuidan de mí todo lo bien que se esperar en una situación así”, y que ha sido provisto de ropa de abrigo, comida y agua, además de medicinas para poder tolerar “las largas caminatas que hacemos every day”.
Moved, he asks his family to try “not to worry about me” and urges them to be “patient and strong. I hope we can be together soon”, he adds.
The pilot has been in captivity since February 7, when he landed a local Susi Air plane with five passengers – who were released – at a remote airport in Nduga district in Papua’s Highlands province.
This province is located in the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, while the eastern part of the island belongs to Papua New Guinea.
The Free Papua Movement demanded at the start of the kidnapping various demands for release, including that New Zealand take the dispute to the UN Security Council; that the International Criminal Court open an investigation into the “abuses” of Indonesia in West Papua, and that Indonesia recognize the independence of this territory.
The separatists, considered criminals by Indonesia, said it was the first kidnapping after an incident in 1996 when they abducted 26 members of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), including four Britons and two Dutch, in the same area.
Rich in natural resources and divided into six provinces, “Indonesian Papua” – called “West Papua” by separatists – has been the scene of a low-intensity armed conflict between the central Indonesian state and secessionist movements since the region came under Jakarta control in 1969. EFE
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(Picture / Video)